Sticks and Stones (2008)

The Boxers from Brockton, MA and the Canadiens from Fredericton, NB are two teams at a 2003 Montréal junior hockey tournament. The Boxers almost didn't attend because of the rising global ... See full summary »

Director:

George Mihalka

Writers:

Sharon Buckingham (created by), Sharon Buckingham (story)

Stars:

David Sutcliffe, Alexander De Jordy, Daniel Magder

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Sutcliffe	...	Neil Martin
Alexander De Jordy	...	Jordan Martin
Daniel Magder	...	Michael Carver
John Robinson	...	Peter Carver
Richard Fitzpatrick	...	Al Bouchard
Debra McCabe	...	Linda Martin
Cary Lawrence	...	Diane Heany
Lori Hallier	...	Anne Carver
Cameron Ansell	...	Dennis Heany
Scott Beaudin	...	Kyle Perkins
Mark Camacho	...	Craig Perkins
Sam Earle	...	Curran Webster (as Samuel Earle)
Alessandro Costantini	...	Zack Connelly
Marc Trottier	...	Chris Carver
Luc Proulx	...	Mr. Houle

Storyline

The Boxers from Brockton, MA and the Canadiens from Fredericton, NB are two teams at a 2003 Montréal junior hockey tournament. The Boxers almost didn't attend because of the rising global tensions due to the US initiated Iraq War. After arriving in Montréal, the Boxers wished they hadn't attended as they face anti-US sentiments time after time, some bordering on the potentially violent. This situation is especially troubling for the family of the Boxers' star forward Michael Carver, whose twenty year old brother Chris Carter gave up his own hockey life to enlist and is scheduled to head over to Iraq soon. One half of the Canadiens star first line, coach Neil Martin's twelve year old son Jordan Martin, doesn't like the treatment shown to the American team. Although distracted by his parent's crumbling marriage whose problems are due primarily to competing careers, Jordan decides to do his small but seemingly insurmountably problematic part in fixing the wrong that has been done. ...

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Plot Keywords:

children | friendship | ice hockey | based on true story | 

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Genres:

Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some thematic material and language

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 January 2008 (Canada)

Filming Locations:

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 3,900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cirrus Communications, Dream Street Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The van in which Neil Martin drives his son Jordy to Brockton has a "Kingswood Golf" logo on its door panel (at around 1h 4 mins). This refers to Kingswood Park located at 31 Kingswood Park in Fredericton which includes an ice skating rink and a golf course.

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Goofs

(at around 45 mins) The New Brunswick license plate GAJ-314 has expiration tab "03 2008", whereas the picture is set in 2003.

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Crazy Credits

"The events in this film are inspired by the real-life actions of hockey dads Brian Johnson and Roger Shannon who organized the Friendship Series that took place in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 2004. We thank them for their generosity in letting us tell this story."

User Reviews

Good family friendly movie.

Good family friendly movie. The plot was a little cheesy, but not too over the top. Typical predictable story line, but isn't that the case with most movies anymore? It was interesting to see the anti American sentiment portrayed in a non-American film. How accurate was that to the actual events...I don't know.

Sports movies typically fall flat on their face trying to create dramatic action sequences. The casual viewer may buy it, but an actual player will say "that's so fake". This movie did a fairly good job IMO.

Goof: Not a spoiler because this has nothing to do with the plot. When discussing their "favorite game" the one kid says "1980 in Lake Placid, US vs Russia for the gold medal". This wasn't the gold medal game.

Kind of goof: There is a scene where the hockey coaches are taking slap shots and their shots are brutal. Either have someone stand in for that scene, or frame the scene so you don't see their shots. The camera angle was from the other end of the rink and behind them, so it would have been easy. Maybe the actors aren't hockey players? That's fine. Just modify the scene.